Amateur Is Enthusiastic About His Love Of Camera Club

March 06, 1996|By Jody Temkin. Special to the Tribune.

Papers don't rustle, people don't whisper and there's no squirming in chairs when the Lombard Camera Club holds its monthly competition.

After the prints are judged, Bruce Mecklenburg turns off the lights and turns on the projector for the slide competition. Members are leaning forward and all eyes are focused on the images being projected at the front of the room.

Each month, the club meets for the competition in the basement of the First Church of Lombard, 220 S. Main St. The three judges, members of another Chicago-area club, select the best black-and-white and color prints and color slides.

There is dead silence as the judging takes place: The competition--and the hobby--are taken seriously.

But the socializing before and after the competition shows a different side of 40 or so members. Developing friendships then becomes as important as refining photography skills.

"Everybody here is always willing to help everybody else," says Mecklenburg, who has been a club member for eight years.

"He comes early to every meeting to help set up and he stays late," says Jan Segraves, club president. "That's just the kind of person he is. He's willing to have board meetings at his home, and he's very helpful to the other members" by giving them tips on their photography.

Mecklenburg, 45, has been the competition chairman and second vice president for three years. He organizes the monthly competitions and selects a specialty category each month (this month, the category is hot-air balloons).

Mecklenburg arranges the slides to be shown, works the projector and announces the winners in the slide competition. Another member, Carol Hansen, runs the print competition.

About half the membership enters the competitions. Scores are kept from month to month, and at the end of the year, the winners in each category receive plaques.

"People tend to think that everyone here is an expert and it's an elitist club, but nothing could be further from the truth," says Segraves' husband, Don, who's the editor of the monthly newsletter and who usually leads in points at the end of the year's competitions. "We're all amateurs. Some have been at it for a while and are pretty good, and others are just beginning."

The latter was the case with Shobha and Charu Palkar, who moved to Lombard about a year ago, saw a newspaper notice about the club and inquired about it. It was Mecklenburg who promptly returned their call.

"He was so friendly on the phone, we decided to come, and we have felt very welcome since being here," Shobha Palkar says. "He took time to explain everything to us."

"We are from a different country (India), and this is the first time we've interacted so closely (with Americans)," Charu Palkar adds. "Bruce and everyone else has made us feel very comfortable here."

The Palkars have been studying photography and are just beginning to enter the competitions.

"We took a course given by Don at the public library," Charu Palkar says. "He gave the basics. Some I knew, some I didn't.

"And we go to guest lectures (at the club) where they give you ideas about composition, what kind of film to use, things like that. We've learned so much."

Mecklenburg began taking pictures about 15 years ago, shooting friends and family. While living in Arizona, his hobby intensified. "Everything out there is a gorgeous nature shot, so I really got into it," he says.

When he returned to Lombard nine years ago, he saw a notice about the club and decided it was time to learn more about his hobby.

"They offered a lot of different classes," he says, "and everyone here has his own specialty. People at the other camera clubs, too, are more than happy to share their knowledge with you."

The group meets twice a month, once for the competition and once for a business/educational meeting, where there might be a guest speaker or a class on some photographic technique.

To make it easier for beginners to compete, members are divided into A, B and, this year, AA groups, with AA designating the top five photographers in slides at the end of the previous year.

Several members make extra money from their hobby. Some show their work at art shows and sell their photographs. Mecklenburg, a carpenter, has been building a wedding photography business on the side and is considering making it a full-time occupation and retiring from carpentry.

"You have to be a good communicator (in commercial photography) and be able to make snap decisions. And then you have to make sure your equipment never fails--that could be disastrous.

"But I enjoy doing portraits, and weddings are fun; everyone's there to have a good time."

His latest interest is creative photography, in which images are altered to create surreal effects. In the kodalith printing process, skies go from light to black and images are outlined in black. He has learned about the technique mostly from Carol Hansen, who has given classes at her home.